In 2015, 850,000 Syrian refugees gained access to Greece, and thereby Europe, via the Aegean Sea, according to The Guardian. Under immense political pressure to quell the refugee flow, European Union leaders concluded a deal with Turkey on Friday meant to make this option less viable to refugees, The Guardian reported.
Under the terms of the deal, refugees landing in Greece will be turned over to Turkey, where they will receive asylum. In exchange, the EU will pay Turkey six billion euros ($6.8 billion) in order to care for the 2.7 million Syrian refugees already in Turkey, New York Magazine reported. For each refugee turned over to Turkey, EU countries will accept one of the refugees, up to 72,000.
Furthermore, it will offer Turkish nationals visa-free travel in Europe’s Schengen area and refocus attention on negotiating eventual Turkish admission into the EU, the BBC reported. The latter offer is mostly for show, seeing as such talks have been at an impasse since Turkey was first denied EU membership in 1987.
While the deal is politically expedient, it puts many refugees in grave danger. To this point, the EU has never considered Turkey a safe country for the placement of refugees. It seems that Europe will suddenly reverse its assessment of Turkey in order to pawn off the country’s obligations to its neighbor.
In an interview with Radio Sputnik, the director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia program, John Dalhuisen, roundly criticized Turkey for failing to fully endorse the Geneva Human Rights Convention. He also cited reports that claim Turkey has sent some refugees back into Syria, a violation of international law, and noted that Ankara “simply does not have a functioning asylum system.”
Even though Turkey recognizes European refugees, Syrians currently have only “temporary protection” there, while Iraqi and Afghan refugees are unrecognized by the Turkish government, BBC reported. These refuges comprise 40 percent of migrant boat arrivals to the EU.
Furthermore, the political conditions under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have deteriorated. He recently stated in an Ankara address, “Democracy, freedom and the rule of law … for us, these words have absolutely no value any longer,” portending further curtailment of freedom of speech and press in the country. Just weeks ago, the state took over the most widely circulated newspaper in the country and gave the editorial page a pro-government bias, according to Al Jazeera.
Finally, it’s important to note that there have been five terror attacks in Turkey since October 2015, and government security forces have clashed with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Turkey considers a terrorist group. This means that presently, the country is hardly safe for its native inhabitants, let alone refugees.
This deal puts a lot of credibility at stake for the EU and offers only an unsure and moderate return. The goal is to deter would-be Aegean boat smugglers. But as soon as this hole is plugged — which is pending the smooth execution of the deal by all parties — people smugglers will rush through other viable routes. Given the unstable political situation in Libya, Mediterranean nations other than Greece can expect an influx of refugees diverted from the Aegean passage.
It is important to note that proponents of the deal are under fire to take some sort of action. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has led the push to accept one million refugees into her country and was recently dealt an electoral blow, as the AfD, an anti-migrant party, won big in regional elections, The Wall Street Journal reported. This was seen as a rebuke of Merkel’s policies. The EU-Turkey deal, if it’s successful, might salvage her approval ratings.
The political cover provided to pro-refugee politicians may prove to be a necessary concession to keep nationalistic, anti-migrant parties from taking hold of Europe. That said, political expedience should not come before assuring a safe situation for refugees placed in Turkey.
Now that the deal has been made, the new round of talks regarding Turkish membership in the EU should be used by Europe to promote political liberalization in Turkey and the adherence to international standards for refugee treatment.
